This proposal is to request support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled "Allergy and Asthma", organized by Catherine M. Hawrylowicz, Stephen J. Galli and Bart N. Lambrecht, which will be held in Keystone, Colorado from January 20 - 25, 2009. Allergic diseases, including asthma, affect up to one third of individuals in the developed world at some time in their lifetime, causing severe loss in the quality of life and a significant healthcare burden. Current treatments are predominantly palliative and there remains an unmet need for improved and novel treatments that provide long-term relief from disease symptoms. At this meeting, clinicians and scientists from both academic and pharmaceutical research environments will discuss: 1) risk factors for disease;2) innate mechanisms and structural cells involved in the initiation, development and manifestations of disease;3) effector and regulatory immune mechanisms involved in the allergic process;4) the relationship between inflammation and structural remodeling in asthma;5) the improvement of conventional treatments;and 6) novel emerging therapeutic strategies for the control of allergic and asthmatic disease. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be further enhanced by the concurrent meeting "Fibrosis", which will share a session with this meeting. Allergic diseases, including asthma, affect up to one third of individuals in the developed world at some time in their lifetime, causing severe loss in the quality of life and a significant healthcare burden. Current treatments are predominantly palliative and there remains an unmet need for improved and novel treatments that provide long-term relief from disease symptoms. This meeting stands out in bringing together clinical and scientific experts from academic and pharmaceutical research environments specifically to discuss these issues.